Low calories = higher risk of injury?

[ASchaffer]

I noticed that every time I do a cut, even though I increase my protein intake, I get tweaks, strains, and joint/muscle inflammation more easily. I'm thinking it has to be from lack of calories, carbs, or maybe just losing body weight. Does anybody else notice they're more susceptible to injury on a cut?

[FredM]

I noticed that every time I do a cut, even though I increase my protein intake, I get tweaks, strains, and joint/muscle inflammation more easily. I'm thinking it has to be from lack of calories, carbs, or maybe just losing body weight. Does anybody else notice they're more susceptible to injury on a cut?

Yeah. I started squatting and benching with sleeves on cuts. Also, relative intensity probably goes up for most people on a cut because they get weaker and refuse to admit it to themselves. Or maybe that's just me. So I would bet that's like 90% of the reason, and lack of the healing power of carbs is only a small contributor.

[Wilhelm]

Wondering if repair functions are diminished in a deficit. I'm guessing yes.
Might need to allow for more recovery, and/or lower the stimulus to recoverable levels.

[quikky]

I've been on a slow cut since mid May. I had some right shoulder aggravation past 5-6 weeks that has forced me to narrow grip bench from 3-4" pins. Never had any pain last that long before. Guessing the lack of proper recovery resources amplifies things like this.

[ASchaffer]

Yeah. I started squatting and benching with sleeves on cuts. Also, relative intensity probably goes up for most people on a cut because they get weaker and refuse to admit it to themselves. Or maybe that's just me. So I would bet that's like 90% of the reason, and lack of the healing power of carbs is only a small contributor.

Yeah, intensity is definitely higher when I'm cutting, which probably also leads to some form breakdown on the last couple reps.

Have you found that wearing sleeves has helped you stay injury free while cutting?

[FredM]

Yeah. I started squatting and benching with sleeves on cuts. Also, relative intensity probably goes up for most people on a cut because they get weaker and refuse to admit it to themselves. Or maybe that's just me. So I would bet that's like 90% of the reason, and lack of the healing power of carbs is only a small contributor.

Yeah, intensity is definitely higher when I'm cutting, which probably also leads to some form breakdown on the last couple reps.

Have you found that wearing sleeves has helped you stay injury free while cutting?

Well it doesn't help my lower back -- which is killing me today 12 weeks (with a break in there) into this cut. Although I think that might have more to do with my break from deadlifting.

But yeah my elbows and knees typically start to ache a month or so into a cut (like beyond normal training burn) and they didn't this last cut with sleeves on all joints. That said I only cut on a "normal" program for about 9 weeks with an accidental 1-2 week break so I probably don't have enough data to say for sure (I spent the last 3 weeks on a pivot where I benched and sgdled once a week while learning PC and push press). I'm certainly going to keep wearing them when I cut from this experience though.

I would guess the promotion of blood flow (sleeves/warmer clothes/more warmup) is more beneficial on a cut when your body is generally stealing energy from normal systems to try and stop you from losing the weight you want.

[soulsidejourney]

Happens to me as well.
Low/Mid back mostly, less meat and what @FredM suggested - increased intensity.

[ASchaffer]

Well it doesn't help my lower back -- which is killing me today 12 weeks (with a break in there) into this cut. Although I think that might have more to do with my break from deadlifting.

But yeah my elbows and knees typically start to ache a month or so into a cut (like beyond normal training burn) and they didn't this last cut with sleeves on all joints. That said I only cut on a "normal" program for about 9 weeks with an accidental 1-2 week break so I probably don't have enough data to say for sure (I spent the last 3 weeks on a pivot where I benched and sgdled once a week while learning PC and push press). I'm certainly going to keep wearing them when I cut from this experience though.

I would guess the promotion of blood flow (sleeves/warmer clothes/more warmup) is more beneficial on a cut when your body is generally stealing energy from normal systems to try and stop you from losing the weight you want.

Thanks, Fred! I'll be investing in some sleeves then. I've also been rubbing CBD lotion on my lower back after heavy squat and deadlift days and it's helped my back a ton. May be worth a try.

[throwinshapes]

Quoting myself from the who is on a cut thread:

I'm working with BBM to rehab a elbow injury, it was recommended to come back up to maintenance. It wasn't clear how much of that was to aid in recovery, or just to limit lean mass loss.

[Mahendra]

I've done 2 big cuts (45lbs the 1st time, and 17lbs the 2nd time) and found that my programming had a bigger impact on the possibility of an injury versus reduced calories.

During the 2nd cut, it was high volume (squatting 4x a week for 4-6 sets of 8's, for example), and I found that as long as I deloaded every 6-7 weeks, I seemed to have avoided injury.

At the end of August, I slightly tweaked my lower back because I knew I had to deload, but I tried to push it out another week because I was going on vacation.

[soulsidejourney]

During the 2nd cut, it was high volume (squatting 4x a week for 4-6 sets of 8's, for example), and I found that as long as I deloaded every 6-7 weeks, I seemed to have avoided injury.

At the end of August, I slightly tweaked my lower back because I knew I had to deload, but I tried to push it out another week because I was going on vacation.

But if you weren't cutting, would you still need to change programming?
What I am trying to say is, if cutting influences your programming then it's hard to compare effect of low cal vs normal cal on injury rate.

[Mahendra]

During the 2nd cut, it was high volume (squatting 4x a week for 4-6 sets of 8's, for example), and I found that as long as I deloaded every 6-7 weeks, I seemed to have avoided injury.

At the end of August, I slightly tweaked my lower back because I knew I had to deload, but I tried to push it out another week because I was going on vacation.

But if you weren't cutting, would you still need to change programming?
What I am trying to say is, if cutting influences your programming then it's hard to compare effect of low cal vs normal cal on injury rate.

True. When I was training for powerlifting competitions, my programming was obviously different. I.e. worked up to 1@8, then working sets @7. So it's hard to compare apples to apples. But I also ensured I deloaded every 6-7 weeks.

However, after that cut was complete, there were times when my weight bumped up 5-6lbs and I tried to drop it, while keeping programming the same. I was then doing an 8/4/2 program both on gaining, maintenance and cutting, and found that I was fine. Again, I only tried to drop about 5-6lbs so that's probably not a long enough timeline to decide.

During my larger cut (45lbs) 3 years ago, I believe I followed something similar (8/4/2 programming) and luckily I avoided injury. I dieted consistently for 29 weeks without a break or maintenance weeks. I made sure I deloaded regularly.

[quikky]

...relative intensity probably goes up for most people on a cut because they get weaker and refuse to admit it to themselves...

Yeah, intensity is definitely higher when I'm cutting, which probably also leads to some form breakdown on the last couple reps.

I think that's spot on. Loss of muscle mass = increased intensity at the same weight = more fatigue and more proneness to injury.

It's like running a bizarro world LP where the intensity keeps increasing linearly due to a decrease in muscle mass.

[platypus]

Two out of three rotator cuff tears for me have happened while losing weight. Also, basically all of my minor injuries have happened while dieting. A caloric excess seems to really help with not getting injured.